Devils sign sponsorship deal with FanDuel

The New Jersey Devils struck a third sponsorship deal with a sportsbook, announcing Monday that the team had signed FanDuel Sportsbook to a partnership that will include the company’s logo in the ice.

The deal comes on the heels of the team signing William Hill and Caesars last month to sponsorship deals that include space within the Prudential Center.

The in-ice inventory became available this season as the NHL opened up four locations for all the teams to sell in each of the rink’s corners.

The NHL also announced Monday that FanDuel would get exclusive rights to advertise itself as the league’s official fantasy destination, along with being called an official sports betting partner of the league.

For the league, FanDuel becomes the second sports betting partner. MGM bought the sponsorship and the league’s data rights as well.

The two deals reflect the speed at which the sports betting landscape is maturing in New Jersey, whose operators took in $184 million in bets in September, already nearly half (47 percent) of what Nevada did in the month.

FanDuel is one of eight companies competing in the mobile sports betting space in New Jersey.

Its competitor DraftKings had the first app available in the state once sports betting became legal this summer. That resulted in them taking a 67 percent market share of New Jersey’s mobile sports betting business in September.

But Matt King, CEO of FanDuel, the only other operator to exceed $2 million in online revenue in New Jersey for September, told ESPN that business in the state is well ahead of expectations.

In September, FanDuel’s sports book at the Meadowlands was the top performing retail book in New Jersey, bringing in $4.3 million in revenue in September.

“Having the brick and mortar shop is very important because we’re a mobile first brand that typically is reaching the 40 and under crowd and so it allows us to be credible with an older population,” King said.

Buying into being exclusive daily fantasy partner of the NHL, which will allow it to advertise FanDuel across the country as such, and to be sports betting partner in states where betting is legal.

“The deal will give them branding opportunities with us on a national basis,” said NHL chief revenue officer Keith Wachtel.

Wachtel said the league could do more deals with sports betting companies, “but we’re not looking to do 10.”

Of the six states that offer legalized sports game, Nevada and New Jersey are the only states with professional sports teams (Mississippi, Delaware, New Mexico and West Virginia are the others).

William Hill only had dashboard sponsorship for the Vegas Golden Knights, meaning FanDuel will be the first sports betting outfit to appear on a playing surface in the four major North American sports.